BALANCING ACT

Tasmanian band Luca Brasi has had international success but it keeps on evolving, as Kane Young reports

TWO years ago, Tassie band Luca Brasi found themselves at a crossroads. From the outside, everything seemed to be falling into place for Tyler Richardson (vocals, bass), Patrick Marshall (guitar), Thomas Busby (guitar) and Danny Flood (drums), who had established themselves as rising stars of the Aussie punk scene with their first two albums Extended Family (2011) and By A Thread (2014).

But in the lead-up to the release of their highly anticipated third record, If This Is All We’re Going To Be, Richardson admitted to Pulse that the album would “make or break” the band.

“If anyone’s going to care, it’s going to be about this record,” he said. “This has got to be the one that takes us to the level we want to be at. We really hope this is the one that takes us to that next echelon.” Two years on, If This Is All We’re

Going To Be has achieved everything Luca Brasi wanted it to, and more.

“We’d been a band for about six years at that point, and it was always great but we’d never expected anything from it — everything that happened was a bonus,” Richardson said. “We’d kind of got to a point where we wondered ‘does anyone really care? Is it worth slogging our guts out? As much as we love it, is it worth continuing to do exactly what we’re doing?’

“Then the last record changed everything. It’s completely, 100 per cent different now. We went from playing headline shows for 100 people maximum, to playing rooms that international touring bands come and headline.

“We started touring overseas, and playing at all these festivals we used to pay money to attend. Getting decent timeslots and playing to a lot of people was something that we never, ever expected. It isn’t that we didn’t want it; we just didn’t think it would ever happen. Then it did.

“The past two years have been a completely different world for us. The whole scheme has changed.” If This Is All We’re Going To Be topped the Australian independent charts and was a top-20 hit on the ARIA charts. It spawned the singles

Aeroplane, Cascade Blues and Anything Near Conviction, which became the band’s first song voted into Triple J’s Hottest 100.

Luca Brasi toured the album relentlessly, selling out headline shows and supporting their mates Violent Soho and The Smith Street Band. They also toured the UK with Moose Blood; and performed at festivals such as Laneway, the Unify Gathering, Party In The Paddock and Festival Of The Sun.

Now Luca Brasi have some slightly different goals for their fourth album, which is set for release mid-year.

“We’ve all hit our 30s, two of the boys now have kids, and we all have full-time jobs outside the band,” Richardson explained.

“So our whole plan is to keep doing what we’re doing, but balance it with life. We’ve steered away from the idea of just playing in a band and doing nothing else, because we have other commitments now — we’re not 18-yearold dudes who can just do whatever we want.

“If we can keep doing these awesome festivals, play the shows we want, tour overseas and maintain a decent balance in life, then we’ll be

happy. We’re trying to be realistic about what we can do.”

The new album will feature last year’s popular single Got To Give and Luca Brasi’s latest track Let It Slip, which they showcased on a mainland tour over the past two weeks, including sold-out shows in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.

Those shows also featured fellow Tasmanian bands Isla Ka and A. Swayze and the Ghosts — part of Luca Brasi’s efforts to promote their home state and its talented musicians.

“All we ever really wanted was to have some sort of influence so we were able to help our mates out,” Richardson said.

“On our last headline tour we had Speech Patterns and Maddy Jane, and on this one we’ve had two Tassie bands and no one else.

“It’s about getting some exposure for Tassie, showing people that stuff does happen here and that it is worth giving a shit about. And it’s showing those bands that they can do it too — letting them know that it is possible.

“We’ve always tried to push Tassie so hard because we love it and want it to succeed, and to have our mates succeed too is even better.”

Headlining their biggest-ever Hobart show, Luca Brasi join A. Swayze and the Ghosts, The Sleepyheads, Isla Ka and The Hudson Cartel for a Good Friday Eve gig in The Goods Shed (Macquarie Point) from 7pm tonight. Tickets $39.78, go to www.moshtix.com.au for bookings.